What is Orthorexia?
Orthorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive desire for healthy and proper nutrition, which is often accompanied by significant restriction in food choices.
Manic adherence to the rules of healthy nutrition was first realized (and put into the term “orthorexia) by the doctor Stephen Bratman, who lived in the 70s of the last century in a commune whose members ate only organic products. Bratman began to think about an eating disorder when he noticed that he had become obsessed with the idea of good nutrition.
Today, a healthy lifestyle and PP (proper nutrition) are actively popularized in society, therefore, the research of the doctor Stephen Bratman is of increasing interest among specialists, because a person is prone to extremes. However, at the moment, orthorexia is not included in the international classifiers of diseases, so this diagnosis cannot be made officially.
Why is orthorexia dangerous?
Due to the fact that information about the usefulness and dangers of food is often taken from unverified sources by orthorexics, this can lead to misinformation, which can have far from beneficial effects on human health.
Strict dietary regulations can lead to an unconscious protest, as a result of which a person begins to consume “prohibited foods”, which can ultimately lead to bulimia. And even if a person copes with it, he will be tormented by feelings of guilt and general depression after a breakdown, and this leads to an aggravation of the psychological disorder.
In some severe cases, strict elimination of certain food groups from the diet can lead to exhaustion.
Severe food restrictions can lead to social blockade: orthorexics limit the range of social contacts, poorly find a common language with relatives and friends who do not share their food beliefs.
The causes of orthorexia. Risk group
1. First of all, it must be said about young girls and women. As a rule, it is because of the desire to change their own figure that women begin to experiment with nutrition. Falling under the influence of fashionable slogans about proper nutrition, a woman, insecure in her appearance and prone to psychological self-flagellation, begins to revise her diet, read articles about foods and their properties, communicate with people who “preach” proper nutrition. At first this is good, but in a situation with orthorexia, people cannot understand when proper nutrition develops into an obsession: many foods that seem controversial for health are excluded, there is a frequent refusal of friendly gatherings in a cafe with friends, because there is no healthy food, there are problems in communicating with others (not everyone wants to constantly listen to meticulous lectures about PP).
2. The risk group may also include quite successful, mature people, those who are very much attracted by the adjective “correct”: proper nutrition, correct lifestyle and thoughts, the correct approach to everything that a person encounters during the day. People of this kind of character subconsciously seek approval from the outside. After all, what is right cannot be negatively assessed: neither by itself, nor by others.
3. Orthorexia can also occur in those who are called perfectionists, in people who do everything for the best in their lives, strive for perfection in everything, and place high demands on themselves. For example, the American actress Gwyneth Paltrow once turned her attention to a figure who, I must say, is always in perfect order. In fear of getting better, Gwyneth radically changed her diet, giving up coffee, sugar, flour products, potatoes, tomatoes, milk, meat, stopped going to restaurants, and if she left home for a long time, then she always took “the right food” with her. Needless to say, everyone from her environment listened to lectures on healthy nutrition ?! By the way, the actress did not stop there and released a book on healthy nutrition with original recipes. It would be admirable if it had a measure and if in a number of media the name of the Oscar-winning actress did not begin to appear alongside the word “orthorexia”.
Orthorexia symptoms
- A categorical choice of food products, based not on personal taste preferences, but on quality characteristics.
- The key product choice is health benefits.
- Prohibition of salty, sweet, fatty, as well as foods containing starch, gluten (gluten), alcohol, yeast, caffeine, chemical preservatives, non-biological or genetically modified foods.
- Too active passion for diets and “healthy” food systems – for example, a raw food diet.
- Fear of “harmful” products, reaching the degree of phobia (irrational uncontrollable fear).
- The presence of a system of punishment in case of using a prohibited product.
- Assigning an important role even to the method of preparing certain food products.
- Meticulous planning of the menu for the next day
- A rigid division of people into their own (those who eat right, and therefore worthy of respect) and strangers (those who eat junk food), in which there is a clear sense of superiority over those who are included in the second group.
How is orthorexia treated?
When symptoms of orthorexia appear, it is very important for a person to realize that his desire for proper nutrition is already becoming unhealthy and goes into the stage of obsession. This is the first and key step towards recovery.
At the initial stage, you can cope with orthorexia on your own through self-control: pull yourself away from thinking about the benefits of food, do not refuse to meet with friends in public places (cafes, restaurants) or at their places, pay less attention to food labels, listen to the body, his gustatory desires, and not just to the dogmas of the PP.
If you cannot cope on your own, you need to contact a nutritionist and psychologist: the first will make a healthy restorative diet for you, and the second will help you treat food sensibly and find the meaning of life not only in what you eat.
How to avoid orthorexia?
- Never categorically refuse any product.
- Allow yourself sometimes something tasty, although not suitable for you according to your current diet.
- Listen to your body: If you absolutely do not like eating a number of healthy foods, do not torture yourself. Look for analogs, maybe not so eco-friendly, but tasty.
- Don’t get hung up on dieting breakdowns. There is no need to come up with punishments and worry about the situation for a long time. Accept this and move on.
- Remember to enjoy the taste of your food while you consume it.
- Be sure to do something that has nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle and nutrition. Your PP should not be a hobby or the meaning of life, it is just one of the physiological needs, and time can and should be spent on interesting activities: courses, trips to museums and theaters, caring for animals, etc., etc.
- Learn to filter and validate information: the benefits of a product can be postulated for commercial purposes, as well as harm. It is better to consult with specialists.